Pasta with raw sauce

This rainbow in a bowl is Rome’s celebration of summer. Bright red cherry tomatoes are tossed with capers, olives, basil, mozzarella, chilli and garlic, and finished with ricotta. I like the raw sauce, ‘checca’, served with hot spaghetti, but it is often served cold stirred into cooled penne for a gorgeous salad. This sauce also works well on courgetti.

SERVES 4 as a main, 6 as a starter PREP 15 mins COOK 10 mins EASY V

320g spaghetti

200g cherry tomatoes, halved 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

20g capers, rinsed well

100g whole green olives, destoned and quartered

1 red chilli, finely chopped

125g mozzarella, cut into approx 2cm pieces

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve handful of basil leaves 100g ricotta

1 Cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan of well salted, boiling water following pack instructions until al dente.

2 Meanwhile, gently mix the tomatoes, garlic, capers, olives, chilli, mozzarella and and oil together in a bowl. Warm a large mixing bowl ready to toss the spaghetti in. Drain the spaghetti and toss it in the warm bowl with the tomato mixture, season well and then mix in the herbs. Serve with spoonfuls of ricotta on top.

GOOD TO KNOW calcium • 1 of 5-a-day

PER SERVING 521 kcals • fat 28g • saturates 9g • carbs 46g • sugars 4g • fibre 5g • protein 18g • salt 1.6g